Converting a GBA game over to battery-less saving (SRAM to FRAM)

If your game is one of the 23 or so in this list (not counting Pokemon!), then it may use battery backed SRAM: gbatemp.net/th...
Do note that there may be extra games that are not listed in the above list but this will still work for any OEM GBA games that use SRAM. This will not work for any bootleg or repro games or especially other GBA games that do not use SRAM.
Early in the GBA life-cycle, some games were still being made with SRAM chips for save functionality. Unfortunately, this means that when the battery inside these carts dies (which may not be for another five to ten years depending on the cart), the save function will no longer work and all data will be lost. It's pretty easy to just swap a new battery in at this time and just call it a day since these batteries seem to last a while anyway, but there is another option.
Quite a few games also shipped with FRAM instead of SRAM. FRAM is functionally identical to SRAM (in this usage) except that it does not require a battery to retain data. Some games shipped in both FRAM versions and SRAM versions while some games were just one or the other. In the case of Metroid Fusion, that game shipped as both but mine happens to be the SRAM version.
All that you need to do is swap the physical SRAM chip for a FRAM chip, but if you have a compatible board donor, it's better to swap the MROM chips around that way both of your games are still functional (albeit one of them will still need a battery). All SRAM games should be compatible with AGB-E11-01 PCBs (these are guaranteed FRAM) and you can just swap the MROM chip around. See this thread for more details: gbatemp.net/th...
There is no reason you cannot back up your save beforehand and then write it back to the cart after swapping. I did not do that in this instance because I did not care about the save data on either cart. In some cases, the existing save data on the FRAM game may cause issues for the SRAM game so it is best practice to backup and restore your save data just in case. If you do not already have a cart reader capable of doing this, you can read about the most common ones in the wiki I've been compiling and maintaining: gameboy.github...
A note on third gen Pokemon games, specifically Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald -- these games DO use a battery but NOT for saving. The battery is for RTC ONLY so swapping these boards will only serve to break RTC AND saves. SRAM or FRAM games are only compatible with SRAM or FRAM and mixing and matching is fine. Any other games will not work with SRAM or FRAM. EEPROM games only work with EEPROM and so on.

[@PillowEgg]

Looks at the list, a sense of relief knowing that Riviera The Promised Land doesn't use batteries. I spent so much time 100% completing the collections.

[@gamemachinejames9837]

I followed this (Kind of) but did the opposite. Using the FERAM chip from an E11 cartridge (Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2007) on the PCB from an E06 cartridge (Warioland 4). It works!

[@wicho99w99]

It’s really nice to know that this can be done but for instance if someone’s battery die and can solder it’s so much easier to just swap the battery with a new one than to do this whole process lol the solder joints are big and easy to work with

[@Err_InvalidName]

No cats were harmed in this video

[@Fobb]

This was such a useful guide, thanks for sharing! I did the same thing for F-Zero Maximum Velocity and it worked perfectly!

[@kingarthur7255]

I thought you had cat hair on the lense for a second and it was actually on my screen so I feel your pain haha

[@I_am_a_human_not_a_commodity]

That's dope! Thanks for the tutorial :D

[@FranktheTank319]

I had no idea you could do that.

[@SuperLuigiGuy64]

Bruh! I found a working GBA and games in the trash. It all works! One of those games was Metroid fusion. I will try this out, thanks for the video.

[@SuperLuigiGuy64]

@@xiii9354 Dumpster diving, you can find lots of awesome treasures. You'd be surprised the things people throw away. 🤣

[@VideoGameJNPoop]

Just a question here regarding GBA Flash type saves: So similar to how you change the SRAM and FRAM chips (well the game ROM chips in this case) around by soldering, is it also possible to replace the Flash chip from a 64KB to a 128KB one. In addition to putting it on a bootleg cartridge that has Flash save on it (like my Mother 3 cartridge). I wish to have a cartridge of the Japanese version of Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 with all 38 e-Reader levels, while I do have ways to put the rom on my bootlegs I get a message saying the save file is corrupted, and patches to make it batteryless on the rom itself (meaning so save chip required either) corrupts the graphics for me on that game.

[@nonewanted]

Awesome channel. I've already changed the display on a gba sp thanks to you

[@8bittoaster]

Dude, props for the Eva Micro faceplate. Where'd you pick it up?

[@makho]

Yeah, they are really fucking cool. I got a whole set of them, actually. They were listed on aliexpress a while ago but apparently they are no longer available. Which is definitely a shame because these sticker wear pretty quick when you carry a Micro on you daily.

[@8bittoaster]

I've been messing around with my SP. Installed a rear case light. Getting Evangelion inserts printed on arcade translite. Put a video up the other day. Work in progress, need to install a switch for the light. Difficult getting parts locally and near impossible to order due to the China lock down. I have plans for a second unit (no pun intended) done up in red and black for a SEELE colour scheme. Been following your work. Keep it up.

[@RustyRat]

just did this with a y-11, worked great.

[@josephnealescratchcards]

Awesome video as always 👍🏻❤️

[@LelandHasGames]

Yay! Special cat ending!

[@theleumaseleets]

For some reason, Metroid: Zero Mission, which came out in 2004, has copies that use SRAM instead of FRAM. The reason I know this is because my brother's copy of Zero Mission is an SRAM model, while my copy of Zero Mission is an FRAM model. To this day, I still don't understand why a game was released 3 years after the GBA's initial release has copies that use SRAM instead of FRAM. It's been several years since I checked the labels, but I don't believe that the SRAM version and the FRAM version of Zero Mission are different revisions of the game.

[@1Raphael]

Awesome I cant believe you put tho dirty flux games in your gba but really nicely done..

[@makho]

Don't worry, I cleaned it ;)

[@sardouche9112]

Hello Makho ! Love your work, I know I'm a bit late, but could this be possible for GBC/GB games ? Do you plan on making it ? :D Thank youuu

[@makho]

MBC1 and MBC5 games you can do the same thing with. MBC3 is a bit more complicated.

[@sardouche9112]

@@makho Ok thanks ! I will do some researches :)

[@mannynegron3588]

Are the SRAM pcb’s interchangeable? Basically I’ve got an AGB-E06-10 board with a ton of corrosion that I want to transplant my Metroid rom from. Would an AGB-E06-20 PCB be compatible?

[@makho]

I don't know but if you want an educated guess, it should be compatible. There's likely a difference in the passives but if you just swap the MROM, that's probably irrelevant. The pinout on basically all the MROM chips in these carts is the same so swapping the MROM chips works more often than not.

[@concretepie9523]

Him says “u know me imma f with it” me: LIKE

[@TheHawk425]

Hey I am trying to save a Pokémon Emerald cart that won't boot, that a dog used as a chew toy ( I can see the bite marks) after looking at the cart carefully I am pretty sure it's the SRAM chip. there is a crack in it that is barely visible. My cart reader could load the rom onto my computer as well. do you know if there is an FRAM or SRAM chip I can buy that is compatible? Thanks! EDIT: I noticed a lot of these carts have 28 pin SRAM or FRAM chips, Pokémon Emerald has 32 pins.

[@makho]

emerald doesn't use SRAM or FRAM so this won't work

[@TheHawk425]

@@makho thanks for the reply, I just bought a cheap Japanese ruby cart and I'm gonna use the chip from that hopefully they're compatible. Cheers, love your vids btw.

[@VideoGameJNPoop]

@@TheHawk425 The reason why it won't work is because Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald use Flash to save, the battery is for the RTC (Real Time Clock) data, this is the same for the Japan-only Mega Man Battle Network 4.5 (Rockman.EXE 4.5) too, battery for clock, flash for saving. So if the battery runs out but your save is still there, it's just the Clock that won't work until replaced.

[@miregoji2959]

@@TheHawk425 ruby isn’t sram or fram

[@Brodensson]

I've been looking to do this with my gameboy and gameboy color games, specifically pokemon, but I have yet to find an 100% compatible f-ram chip. The solutions I've seen don't have a clear guide on what chip to use, and some say stuff about lifting pins because of different voltages which doesn't sound right to me. Have you had any experience with GB/GBC games?

[@makho]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3-rl5WaqZ1mptk

[@VideoGameJNPoop]

Oh and can you use tape to put the chips back on too or do you really have to flux and solder. I want to try and do it with my Japanese copy of Wario Land 4 (Wario Land Advance) as that game uses a battery.

[@makho]

you have to solder

[@josuecastro2813]

This doesnt work on games that uses the battery for sonething else right?, like pokemon saphire

[@makho]

you can't have batteryless RTC, that's not how that works.

[@RE4PER]

In my opinion it's much easier just to replace the battery, but good job nonetheless.

[@makho]

I mean, this is a one-time thing. I'll never have to replace a battery in this cart again. But yes, normally, you are correct that it's much easier to swap in a battery.

[@UltraSteelix]

Hello Makho. I have a question. So I currently have a midnight trace gba flashcart from funnyplaying. I want the cart itself as it's a golden color and I have a shiny gold rom in there. The base game is fire red. So it beautiful to me and I want to keep the golden cart. However, I have to patch the rom in order for it to save properly on the cart (since it's a fram chip and not flash) I was wondering, if you knew by any chance, if I can take off the flash chip from a spare authentic fire red cartridge would I be able to place it on the flash cart and remove the fram chip? Both chips are similar in size and have the same amount of pins. It looks like it would fit perfectly. But I want to know if the flash cart would even be able to interface with the flash save chip. Would it be a waste of time to remove the fram chip and install the flash save chip?

[@makho]

That's not how this works

[@digleyd.3813]

Hey makho, you said you paid a dollar or two for the japanese Mega Man carts. Where do you got them from? On ebay they are like not really cheap.

[@makho]

auction site

[@MathiasEek]

How / where did you find those Megaman carts, and for so little? I'm trying to find a blue one like you use in the video, but to no avail. :)

[@makho]

If I share my sources, they stop being so inexpensive. That being said, you're also commenting on a three year old video and the pricing was wildly different three years ago.

[@MathiasEek]

@@makho True, but it was worth a shot 😂

[@VideoGameJNPoop]

My Japanese English Patched repro of Metroid Fusion doesn't have a battery, so I'm fine, however I have Mega Man Zero and that uses a battery, though It's not dead yet, but I could replace it with FRAM in future though.

[@VideoGameJNPoop]

Update: I realize that that bootleg/fake carts can also have a unique way of saving, so my Metroid Fusion cart uses SRAM, only the rom has been modified more to make it batteryless (thus why it freezes for a bit before continuing while saving the actual game, so if I put a different game/rom in the cart unpatched it won't keep the save). My Mega Man Zero is a bootleg cart too. So I'm not sure if there are different types of FRAM chips for the bootleg carts. My Mother 3 repro has flash save luckily.

[@reznor6507]

@@VideoGameJNPoop So do the FRAM chips eventually die?

[@VideoGameJNPoop]

@@reznor6507 FRAM chips never die, the chips in the bootleg carts are usually SRAM (with the exception of Mother 3 Repros and insideGadgets carts you can buy on that website), only the roms have been modified to use batteryless saves, without FRAM or even Flash or Eeprom, don't know how to do this properly though.

[@reznor6507]

@@VideoGameJNPoop I have 2 copies of Metroid fusion one with a battery and one with a chip. Is that chip in Fusion a FRAM?

[@VideoGameJNPoop]

@@reznor6507 Yes it is, the no battery one is FRAM.

[@ClipOrDeath]

hey makho, is it possible to replace the mrom with a chip that you flashed yourself, and that way play a rom hack on an original cartridge?

[@makho]

Not on GBA. You can do that on GBC though because the memory mapper (MBC chip) is separate. On GBA it is a custom part that is integrated.

[@ClipOrDeath]

i see, thank you. what about bootleg gba carts, how do they work? do some of them use programmable rom with integrated mbc?

[@92000]

can you also make EZ-Flash Omega without the battery?

[@makho]

the battery is only for RTC on the omega.

[@LuisPerez-id5ce]

Which games used the same PCB as pokemon emerald?

[@makho]

pokemon ruby and pokemon sapphire

[@azntakumi]

Could this work with any game that uses battery saves? Like castlvian circle of the moon?

[@makho]

should work with any GBA games that use a battery for saves

[@flamespear86]

What is the heat tolerance of these old FRAM chips and their pins? Is it well below the solder melting point?

[@makho]

if they couldn't stand the heat required to solder the chip, how would anyone use them?

[@flamespear86]

@@makho No idea. Just because something is pretty standard process doesn't mean it's necessarily good for the components. I don't know enough about the manufacturing process. I know silicon is heat resistant and that's pretty much it. This is the first time I've seen this method for removing chips so that's why I asked. Before I only knew about using an iron to do it.

[@makho]

@@flamespear86 I mean, a proper hot air rework station is a lot better than just a heat gun, that's for sure. But they are fundamentally the same thing (albeit no temp control on of those options).

[@Vendaar]

Can i do this without hot air gun?

[@cesarguerrero5630]

Tried this with chip quik, much more difficult....

[@reminon]

1500w heat gun is scary for that tiny pcb.

[@makho]

It worked, didn't it? A hot air station is a much better tool to use. Something something do as I say not as I do.

[@SJJ1992]

I was saving my pokemon game and exactly during the saving, my gameboy battery went off and then my saving got deleted! How to bring it back?!!! Help please!

[@makho]

It's gone. Sorry.

[@leobgoo6350]

👍

[@kepalakardus2278]

Can we use this for ez flash 4?

[@makho]

likely no but you'd have to try it yourself to be sure. If nothing else, I imagine the chip I used would not work but another may.

[@redcanfly]

Hello! Can you link a link to Amazon to buy good tweezers like the one you used in this video? Please 🙏

[@makho]

at the time, I was just using some generic tweezers from ebay/aliexpress but I've started using some engineer titanium tweezers and I highly recommend those instead. They're a bit pricey up front but if it's something you'll use frequently, I highly recommend it: retrogamerepairshop.com/products/ptn-01-03-titanium-tweezers-series otherwise, just run a search for tweezers and you should find some that are only a couple bucks. They work but the tips bend stupid easy.

[@HalianTheProtogen]

That Evangelion GB Micro is sick

[@cesarguerrero5630]

What tip did you use to reattach the chip?

[@makho]

I used a hakko t18-c2. It might not be the best tip (t18-k tips look like they might fare better) but it worked for me.

[@valshaped]

Is that a Wanhao Duplicator i3/Monoprice Maker Select metal plate?

[@makho]

Uhh, who's asking? Yes lol

[@SoloMew151]

Any chance to do this with Pokemon Emerald,or Ruby/Sapphire?

[@makho]

Please read the description.

[@joeish]

Can this be done with pokemon ruby?

[@makho]

Pokemon Ruby already has non-volatile saves. The battery is for RTC.

[@Ruslan.88266]

Nice

[@cesarguerrero5630]

What heat gun are you using, what’s the temperature?

[@makho]

there is no temp control, it's a heat gun on "high"

[@cesarguerrero5630]

What was the metal plate for?

[@makho]

protect my desk from excess heat from the heat gun. I was worried that the silicone mat would not be sufficient. The plate has ridges that make it effectively thicker.

[@ReignBough]

Can gameboy sram be swapped with fram too?

[@makho]

not the way I did here but yes MBC5 (and MBC1) games can be swapped. MBC3 can be modified to take FRAM too but it's not 1:1 like the rest.

[@cesarguerrero5630]

Will the flux left under the chip not corrode?

[@makho]

it shouldn't but just in case, that's why I cleaned it.

[@cesarguerrero5630]

Any idea how to fix lifted rom chip pads?

[@makho]

bodge wire from the leg of the MROM chip to wherever the pad was supposed to go.

[@VideoGameJNPoop]

Also, why make Mega Man/Rockman games use batteries, I’m a fan of Mega Man/Rockman. Nooooooo.

[@BingoAndSSchara]

What is flux?

[@kraio-sfu]

It basically creates a barrier between the solder and the air, so that the solder doesn’t oxidize too quickly. It helps the solder flow more easily

[@chipsdonut1]

How long does a FRAM save last for?

[@makho]

Until the chip fails. The data sheet says something around 100 years.

[@ianeckhoff1992]

Over a century.

[@Prauwlet213]

@@makho well, then that's basically eternity, because no-one in this section will be alive, and all gbas and gba games would have rotted away unless they brought them back. I

[@glowstickofdestiny1290]

Hey, I've got a question if you don't mind hearing me out. Is there a solution for when a GBA cart with FRAM can't save? I just recently got a cart of Final Fantasy V with this problem. I'd hoped to see a save battery when I opened it up, since those seem simple enough to replace, but of course it didn't have one. I was wondering if a fix is still on the table, or if I'm better off just getting another cart (especially since I have no experience with this sort of thing).

[@makho]

probably a broken solder joint then

[@markdayrit3416]

I had the same issue with a WarioWare Twisted that I just got, it wouldn’t save. Turns out that Makho was right. Before I went with swapping an FRAM chip, I resoldered the joints on the pcb. Try reflowing the pins in case you have a dead joint, worked for me.